1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a terrestrial communications system for mobile and portable devices, with possible applications in peer-to-peer communication systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to a spoke-and-hub communications system with increased user capacity by allowing frequency re-use through the use of multiple polarities, frequency slots, and directions organized through “unique waveforms” to radiate one signal.
2. Description of Related Art
Recent demand for terrestrial wireless communications methods such as WiFi and WiMax through portable devices such as iphones, ipods, bluetooth have increased dramatically. The increased use of such devices has resulted in a proliferation of IP-based products using fibers and satellites for back-bone or transport applications. On the other hand, high-speed access communications to handheld devices typically emanate from small wireless antennas that basically radiate and receive in broad beams with near omni-directional radiation patterns. Effective spectrum utilization becomes more and more important because of the expeditious increase of demand for wireless “access” communications.
Ever increasing demand for a finite amount of spectrum has made it one of the most important resources in wireless communications. Therefore, there have been schemes to increase spectrum utilization efficiency, such as orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) [1]-[3], cellular frequency reuse, and dual-polarization frequency reuse [4], [5]. OFDM is an attractive technique for digital transmission, as spectrum utilization efficiency can be increased by the orthogonal frequency spacing and signal bands' overlapping. Dual-polarization frequency reuse systems, which utilize both linear and circularly polarized electromagnetic (EM) waves that are orthogonal to each other, have been demonstrated in many satellite communications applications to double system capacity for fixed wireless (i.e. Wi-Fi, WiMax) and mobile (i.e. 3G and 4G systems for cell phones) systems. However, these polarization diversity systems are subject to system performance degradation due to cross polarizations and signal fading.
Linear-polarized (LP) systems feature two polarization directions of vertical polarity (VP) and horizontal polarity (HP). Similarly, circular-polarized systems also feature two polarization directions of right hand circular polarity (RHCP) and left hand circular polarity (LHCP).
In principle, transmission through orthogonal polarization carriers doubles the system capacity. However, practical use for portable devices is hard to achieve due to a user's dynamic motions, propagation impairments, antenna imperfections, among other things. The propagation impairments, such as rainfall attenuation, depolarization, and cross-polarization interference (CPI), deteriorate the signal transmission in the satellite-earth station links. Some compensation methods were reported in the literature [4]. Furthermore, the problems will become complicated by multipath fading effects when transmitting in a terrestrial environment. Although some schemes such as equalization and diversity are proposed to overcome such problems, their complicated nature prevents them from being a practical solution. The present invention aims to adopt the concept of wavefront multiplexing to more efficiently utilizing spectrum in polarization diversity.
Since the advent of low cost integrated Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) receivers such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) in addition to the usage of commercial off-the-shelf Micro-Electro-Mechanical Sensor (MEMS) accelerometers and gyroscopes, estimation of the “orientations” and motion trends of individual personal portable devices with respect to a fixed coordination system has become practical and affordable, as evidenced by their proliferation to the previously mentioned portable devices. GNSS and related technologies are satellite-based geo-location systems. There are other non-satellite based geo-location systems which may become cost effective, with small size, weight and power (SW&P) to be implemented in portable devices. The small-sized MEMS inertial measurement unit (IMU) provides the raw IMU data through a serial interface to a processor board where the inertial navigation solution and integrated GNSS/IMU with a Kalman filter is generated. Thus, polarizations diversity for better spectrum utility can be implemented with low cost and reliable processing techniques for consumer wireless communications markets, such as those featuring 3g and 4g mobile devices as well as WiFi and WiMax fixed devices.
Wavefront multiplexed frequency re-use methods via polarization diversity take advantage of incompatibilities among the two polarity formats (such as LP versus CP) to implement “orthogonality” among multiple waveforms used by different user signals that are sharing the same frequency assets. The conventional performance degradations such as cross polarizations of a CP waveform to a LP hub therefore become part of the WF muxed waveforms and operational features. The orthogonality among multiple user signals is no longer solely dependent on orientations of the portable user devices.
Compatible polarization configurations between user terminals and hub and/or cell tower assets are essential to efficient wireless links. It is generally true to efficiently utilizing polarization diversity that the LP polarized user terminals will use LP hubs and/or cell towers, and CP user terminals relay data via CP hubs and/or cell towers. When LP wireless portable terminals communicating to and from a CP hub and/or cell tower, their antenna polarizations must be configured accordingly emulating CP terminals, to prevent 3 dB SNR losses in receiving (Rx) functions on the one hand, and not to generate unwanted radiations in transmitting (Tx) functions on the other hand.
Our approaches to these issues are very different than those of polarization re-configuration, and may not require users to switch polarizations on their equipment at all. Linearly Polarized (LP) users can use their existing terminals to relay data to CP hubs and/or cell towers. There are no spectrum asset losses due to the incompatibility. It is how we re-organize the CP spectrum assets via operation of hubs and/or cell towers to make the “incompatibility” operationally possible. It is therefore a result of our invention that linearly polarized hubs or cell towers can be accessed and efficiently utilized by circularly polarized user terminals, and vice versa. We will illustrate how to use LP hubs to access CP portable devices efficiently in this application. It would be obvious that a person with ordinary skills in the art can derive similar techniques using CP hubs to access LP portable devices.
The invention relates to grouping two orthogonally polarized communications channels (e.g. HP and VP in linear polarities) with a common frequency slot on a hub or cell tower through Wave-Front (WF) Multiplexing (muxing) techniques for user portable terminals with incompatible polarization formats (e.g. RHCP and LHCP in circular polarities). The grouping method is extendable to multiple pairs of communications channels assets with both (LP) polarization formats with various frequency slots on different hubs or cell towers.
One of the approaches utilized by the present invention is the concept of virtual link, which utilizes N communications links organized by Wavefront (WF) Multiplexing (Muxing). A WF carrying a signal stream features a fixed spatial phase distribution among selected N parallel links, which support up to N orthogonal WFs carrying N independent signals concurrently from a source to a destination. The virtual link techniques are referred to as Orthogonal Wave-Front Diversity Multiplex (OWFDM), and the enabling signal structures as OWFDM waveforms.
Virtual links can also be applied for satellite communications transporting data within a fields of view common to selected transponders. Our proposed “Polarization Utility Waveforms” can successfully deliver signals via LP transponding satellites using CP ground terminals, and vice versa. They are engineered via techniques of signals spreading over multiple transponders. The waveforms may look like OFDM waveforms and may also appear as MIMO formats, but are not. They are subsets of OWFDM waveforms and may feature unique format interconnecting OFDM and MIMO through an orthogonal signal structure.
Virtual links can also be applied for terrestrial communications for last mile connectivity as well as transporting means from N sources to M destinations. Our proposed “Polarization Utility Waveforms” can successfully uploading signals to CP hubs and/or cell towers using LP portable devices terminals, and vice versa. They are engineered via techniques of signals spreading over multiple communications channels in the selected hubs and/or cell towers. The waveforms may look like OFDM waveforms and also appear as MIMO formats, but they are not.
It can be shown that WF muxing/demuxing techniques are powerful tools for path length equalizations among parallel paths/channels. SDS has applied these techniques for various applications; (1) Power combining from multiple transponders from the same satellites and/or different transponding satellites [6], (2) back channel equalization for ground based beam forming process in satellite applications [7], and (3) Distributed data storage [8].
Uniqueness of the OWFDM
Unlike OFDM for commercial wireless communications which feature waveforms with multiple orthogonal sub-carriers uniformly distributed in a frequency band, our proposed OWFDM techniques will spread transmitting (Tx) signals into multiple channels with a unique phase distribution pattern, referred to as a wavefront (WF). These channels may be assigned to different frequency slots, time slices, polarizations, and/or directions when these “communications assets” become available. The selected multi-dimensional waveforms may be dynamic and reconfigurable. There will always be embedded pilot signal streams through the same propagating paths but distributed in phase distribution patterns orthogonal to the one which carries the desired signal stream.
In general, the OWFDM waveforms must meet existing polarization and frequency convention restrictions. At a portable device, transmitting (Tx) signals may be preprocessed by a WF multiplexer (muxer), which coherently spread signals into multiple channels concurrently in a form of orthogonal structure in a selected N-dimensional domain. The generated orthogonality is among multiple wavefronts (WFs). With N parallel propagating channels, there are N-orthogonal WFs available. Probing signal streams may be attached to at least one of them. The remaining WFs are available for various Tx signal streams.
Signals that originate from a portable device propagating through various uplink carriers/paths, and arriving at designated hubs and/or cell towers feature differential phase delays, Doppler drifts, and amplitude amplifications/attenuations.
Post processing implemented at receiving (Rx) site will equalize the differential phase delays, frequency drifts and amplitude attenuations among signals through propagating paths. Calibrations and equalizations take advantages of embedded probe signals and iterative optimization loops. There are not feedbacks required through back channels, As a result of equalizations, the Rx WFs become orthogonal, and the attached signals streams are then precisely reconstituted by the WF demuxer.